Potential Convention Site Sold By Hollywood Owner

The second-ranked site for a Broward convention center has been sold, although officials said Wednesday they doubt the sale will affect a decision whether to build a center.

The 52-acre property near the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and owned by Hollywood developer George Farmer was sold this month, an employee in Farmer`s office said Wednesday. Details were not immediately available.

The property east of Federal Highway and Taylor Road was second in a list of 16 potential sites ranked by Touche Ross and Co., the consultants hired by the Broward County Tourist Development Council to study the need for a convention center.

``If the property is still available as a site, I`d still be interested in it,`` said County Commissioner Nicki Grossman, a member of the convention center task force. ``It has all the trappings of an excellent site. It has good road service, it`s convenient to thousands of hotel rooms and is close enough to the ocean.``

Tourist Council Chairman Scott Cowan said he favored a location near the airport and did not believe the elimination of the site would affect a decision on whether to build a convention center.

The council will consider the consultants` conclusions at a special meeting on Sept. 5.

The first-ranked site, a 25-acre parcel south of the airport in Dania, is out of the immediate running because 15 acres of the property is for sale. Owners of the remaining 10 acres plan a hotel and office complex.

``My intention is that we have a convention facility,`` Grossman said. ``I`m comfortable with sites that range from Miramar to Deerfield.``

Irv Cowan, owner of Hollywood`s Diplomat Hotel and a task force member, who favors a convention center near the airport, said, ``If the county really wants (the land), there is no doubt they could get it.``

``The whole idea is to attract more people to the county,`` Cowan said. ``If you can`t look at that convention center as a nucleus that`s going to put more hotel rooms in the county, then I agree it`s not (worthwhile).``

None of the 16 potential sites received high rankings by Touche Ross. The first choice received 72 out of 100 possible points, edging out the 52-acre site, which received 69 points.

The third-ranked location, which received 65 points, is a 62-acre lot east of Interstate 95 between Griffin and Stirling roads.

Touche Ross, in a final report released last month, concluded that a 150,000- square-foot convention center would lose $4.5 million in the first year and never would be self-supporting.

On the other hand, the center would pump between $179 million and $239 million into the Broward economy in the first stable year of operation in 1990, according to Touche Ross.